Defending the Red Zone

All football coaches understand the importance of winning those two or three games each season that are won (or lost) by a touchdown or less. The difference in those types of games can usually be determined by getting at least one big stop in the red zone. We spend two 15-minute segments per week on our red zone package. Our red zone coverages are easy adjustments (1 zone and 1 man) from our base coverages. In this article we will concentrate on those red zone adjustments from our man-free scheme. In order to discuss these red zone adjustments we must first look at some of the basics. We teach all of our man-free pick-ups with a system based on two deep/man under. Also, we teach our defensive players a system that only allows the offense to have four formations – two from 1 backs and two from 1 back. If there are two backs in backfield, they can only be in pro (double width) or slot